Bush's campaign finance report

The Republican [President Bush] started May with nearly $72 million in the bank after using up nearly $31 million in April, a campaign finance report filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission showed. Bush's spending declined after March, when he spent roughly $50 million on his first wave of campaign ads.

Bush spent roughly $21 million on ads in April, his biggest expense last month. Among other major campaign costs, the campaign devoted more than $4 million to mailings, about $1.6 million to staff salaries, consultants and related costs, and $555,000 to phone banks. ...

Bush must make his campaign fortune last until early September, when he is officially nominated at the Republican National Convention in New York and receives about $75 million in full government financing for the general-election phase of his campaign.

To sustain his spending at last month's rate through the summer, Bush would need to raise at least $50 million more. That would be possible at his current fundraising rate: He took in about $15 million last month, with roughly two-thirds of that in donations of under $1,000 coming in through the mail or over the Internet. -- Bush Campaign Spending Hits Record $126M (AP via washingtonpost.com)